Where there's a gill, there's a way
by Mickie101
Summary: Miss Martian and Aqualad are almost complete with fixing Aqualad's mind. There's is only one loose end left. Tula. Aqualad come to terms with Tula's death before moving on. The true reason for Tula's death is revealed.


**Set after The Fix**

**This is a response to a challenge by Dino724**

* * *

Together Miss Martian and Kaldur lifted the last pillar into place. Kaldur's Atlantis had been restored.

"It looks like we're finished," Miss Martian sighed.

"Not yet, my friend," Aqualad said. He was staring at something behind them. Miss Martian turned her body to follow his gaze.

A girl laid on the ground, unmoving. Her body was singed and burned. The girl's hair was falling off in clumps around her.

"Is that...?" Miss Martian asked. She was afraid to speak her name. Kaldur nodded. He sat heavily onto the ground. M'gann laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Can you tell me what happened?" she soothed. He turned away from her so that she could only see the hunched form of his back.

"I never stopped reliving that day," he said. "My king was handling the affairs of the League, so Tula and Garth were the sole protectors of Atlantis. That was why Nightwing called on me to help. Atlantis, my home, was in danger. The Kraken had come to lay waste to the city..."

It was such a beautiful day on land, above the ocean's waves. Who could have known such terrors were under the sea?

Aqualad swam through the ocean's depths, and it felt good. The cool temperatures relaxed his usually tense body. He loved the texture the water made on his gills. It felt good to be home, caressed by the ocean's waves. If it were any other day, he would have stretched his webbed feet and just floated. But it wasn't any other day. He had a mission, a duty to his people.

Kaldur heard the dreadful monster before he saw it. The waves carried its cry to him. Along with it, came the screams of his people. He rushed to the city, kicking his legs as fast as he could.

Kaldur reared up. The creature was large. Its head was shaped like a cone. Eyes circled around its squid-like head. Its nose was two giant slits. The mouth was lined with broken ships, dead bodies, and mushy kelp. The water around it churned from the stirring of its tentacles.

Two bodies were throwing constructs made of water at the huge beast. A body flung toward him. He tried to catch it, but the force pushed Kaldur backward. Garth. Kaldur recalled telling him to lay off the crustaceans.

"Hey, Kaldur. Glad you could make it," Garth said, feebly before passing out. Kaldur laid him on the ocean floor.

"Kaldur!" He knew that voice anywhere. It was a beautifully gravelly sound that brought music to his ears. He gazed up and saw Tula. He had not seen her in so long. She looked different and the same all at once. Her bangs had grown longer, but her red pixie cut was just about the same.

He needed to touch her face and gaze into her eyes like he used to. Her eyes could tell him everything that he had missed. Her sea blue eyes. Kaldur sighed. She had chosen, Garth, his friend, and he respected that. He had to respect it, or he would lose them both as friends.

Kaldur grabbed his hydrohammer. Kaldur swam up to the massive monster.

"Heads or tails?" he asked Tula.

"Tails," she replied. She swam down to his feet, while Kaldur made his way up to the creature's head.

He swung his hammer. It landed between two of the creature's eyes. The creature roared. Kaldur hit it again. This time the creature slapped him with one of its many tentacles. The weight of the tentacle crashed Kaldur through the roof of a building. Once he got up, he realized that he had landed on someone. The person was a stranger, but that did not console Kaldur. His mission was to protect the people, all of the people.

The roof above him began to rumble

"Everyone out!"

He made a water construct to support the roof as people rushed past him.

"Thanks, mister," a kid stopped to say. Kaldur nodded and shoved the kid forward. The roof was getting heavier.

Tula crashed to the ground in front of him. She immediately got up and headed over to Aqualad.

"Hydrokinesis doesn't work against it. All it does is make it angry," Tula reported. She rubbed her butt for emphasis.

The Kraken let out a roar that shook Kaldur to his bones.

"I hope that means it's giving up," Tula said. He could tell that she did not think that was the case.

The Kraken's mouth opened wide. The roar turned into a slurping noise. The water surrounding them started to move toward the Kraken. A giant whirlpool formed. Tula grabbed on to Kaldur. Her feet slowly floated from underneath her.

"It is no use. The Kraken will suck up the whole of Atlantis," Kaldur said.

"Where there's a gill, there's a way," Tula winked. She released her arms from around Kaldur's waist. She tumbled into the whirlpool.

"Tula!" Aqualad yelled. He wanted to reach out to her, but he had to hold up the roof. Instead, he watched as Tula slipped into the Kraken's mouth.

The pull of the whirlpool stopped. The Kraken screamed and began to convulse. Blue electricity sizzled around it. It went limp, then burst. Chunks of Kraken guts rained down on the city. At the center of it all was Tula's limp body.

The last person ran from out of the building. Kaldur was able to let down the roof and swim over to Tula's body.

Her bangs were burned off and her skin was weird pink color. Her clothes hung in tatters. One of her eyes stared off to something to the right, while the other gazed into his. He wanted to say something, but could not find the words.

"You were my best friend, Kaldur," Tula said, weakly. Her hand touched his face. She moved closer to his face, her lips puckered. Kaldur closed his eyes in anticipation.

He waited like that for minutes.

The kiss never came.

Tula was dead.

"No!" Kaldur cried. He clutched her broken body to his.

"I know she didn't love me, not like Garth, but she loved me enough to try to give me what I desired most," Kaldur finished.

During the story, Tula's body had slowly healed itself. Each word brought more power to her. By this time, her skin was not that awful pink, and her hair was back on her head. She walked to Kaldur and placed her hand on his face.

"Tula, I love you," Kaldur said.

"I know," she replied.

Kaldur closed the space between the two.

"It looks like we're finished here," MissMartian said, interrupting them.

When Kaldur opened his eyes, Tula was gone.

"Yes it looks so, my friend."


End file.
